News
-
Vegelicious venues celebrated
The winners of the 2025 Edgy Veg Awards have been crowned and five local businesses in the Macedon Ranges and Mount Alexander Shires have been celebrated for their incredible vegelicious fare. The awards are now in their fourth year and expanded to Mount Alexander Shire for the first time in 2025. This event is the…
-
Housing initiatives in spotlight
Mount Alexander Shire residents are invited to a free community forum hosted by My Home Network to hear the latest updates on local housing projects and initiatives aimed at addressing the region’s housing crisis. The forum will take place at Castlemaine Town Hall on Thursday May 15, from 6.30pm (for a 7pm start) to 9pm.…
-
Mitchell back, Bendigo close
The Albanese Government has been returned to power in a landslide victory that saw Labor secure 82 seats to the Coalition’s 38 at the time of going to press yesterday. Labor’s Rob Mitchell has been returned for McEwen but the previously thought safe Labor seat of Bendigo will come down to the wire as votes…
-
Bearing messages of peace
Students joined a significant global effort for peace when the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run visited Kyneton last week. The peace run is a torch relay that spans 165 countries with runners from across the globe who bring with them a simple message: peace begins in the heart of all of us. Runners made their…
-
Nature repair needs accelerator funding
A local environmental alliance is reminding federal election candidates of the toll natural disasters take on central Victorian communities already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. Biolinks Alliance and 12 of its member groups said repairing nature was vital to mitigating the impacts of droughts, floods and fires and their flow-on effects. “For so many at…
-
Remembering the scars, physical and mental
South Vietnam, 1966: An isolated company of 108 Australian soldiers is outnumbered by 2000-strong Viet Cong. They trade fire for four hours and 18 Australian lives are taken. Francis Donovan, a medic on the battlefield, attends wounded 20-year-old Les Farren. He lays unconscious with his groin destroyed and legs detached. He opens his eyes a…
-
Fire threatens homes at Benloch
Properties at Benloch and Lancefield were under threat after a large fire broke out on Frost Road last Thursday afternoon. About 60 appliances from CFA and Forest Fire Management Victoria turned out just before 1pm to battle the out-of-control blaze as it spread across 70 hectares of scrub and bush. The CFA issued an emergency…
-
Memorial gates to be restored
The heritage-listed Malmsbury War Memorial gates will be restored to their former glory. Friends of the Malmsbury Gardens and Environs has secured a $27,492 grant from the state government’s Restoring Community War Memorials and Avenues of Honour 2024-25 program. The memorial was built in 1922 as a tribute to the “brave men who enlisted in…
-
Timber removal challenged
Environmental activists have called out the removal of large volumes of fallen timber from the Wombat State Forest as being done “under the guise of reducing fire risk”. The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action is removing trees and debris that fell during the 2021 storms but environmental groups argue the works are destructive…
-
War memorial swamped by tourists
Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s Autumn Festival strategy to disperse tourists away from Macedon’s Honour Avenue did little to deter the thousands of tourists who rushed to the street over Easter. Honour Avenue is lined with 154 pin oak trees – each one honouring a soldier from the region who served in WWI – and is…
-
Dog rescued from mine shaft
A much-loved dog is back home safe and sound after falling down a mine shaft in the Chewton Bushlands last Tuesday afternoon. Castlemaine SES were first on the scene after reports came through that a dog had fallen into a deep shaft. After an initial assessment, the crew called in the CFA’s Oscar 1 Emergency…
-
Explore our golden past
Explore the history behind the region’s golden past as part of the highly anticipated The Alchemy of Gold event, which will take place in Castlemaine from May 16 to 18. The three-day forum will bring together more than 40 experts, historians and community members to explore how the discovery of gold in Victoria in the…